Rolex Prices in 2026: The Full Market Report

We buy and sell Rolex every week from our counter at 19 West 47th Street, so this report is not a chart we pulled off the internet. It is what we are actually writing checks for in the summer of 2026, cross-checked against the public secondary-market data so you can see where our offers come from. The short version: the market four years past the 2022 peak is calmer, more honest, and in most references cheaper than it was two years ago. A few models have quietly recovered. A couple have spiked on discontinuation news. Most steel sport models sit well below their manic highs and are drifting back up slowly.

Here is the whole picture, reference by reference, with the specs that matter and the numbers we stand behind.

Where the market actually is in 2026

The 2021 to spring 2022 run was the anomaly, not the baseline. At the March 2022 top, a steel Daytona could clear $50,000 and a steel Submariner briefly touched the high teens. Those were speculative prices, driven by cheap money and flippers, and they were never going to hold.

By mid-2025 the correction had run its course. Rolex secondary-market values hit a four-year low, trading below where they sat in the spring of 2022 and, by Morgan Stanley and WatchCharts data, roughly 3% under levels last seen in January 2021. That was the bottom. Since summer 2025 the recovery has been gentle and broad: 25 of the 35 brands WatchCharts tracks are back in positive territory. Rolex is up about 7.9% over the trailing year and rose roughly 1.7% quarter over quarter in Q1 2026. That is a slow grind higher, not a new boom, and it is exactly the kind of market where buying and selling both make sense again because nobody is chasing a rocket.

For a seller, that means you are past the panic-selling lows of 2024 and early 2025. For a buyer, it means you are no longer overpaying double retail for a steel sport watch on the gray market. Both sides can transact without feeling robbed. That is a healthy market, and it is the first time we could say that since 2020.

Daytona 126500LN: still the king, but down from the throne

The steel Cosmograph Daytona reference 126500LN is a 40mm Oystersteel case, 11.9mm thick, running the in-house caliber 4131 with the Chronergy escapement, 72 hours of power reserve, and the Superlative Chronometer rating of minus 2 to plus 2 seconds per day. Black Cerachrom bezel, screw-down pushers, 100 meters of water resistance. It replaced the 116500LN in 2023. Retail through an authorized dealer sits near $16,900, if you can get one, which you generally cannot without a long relationship and a longer wait.

At the 2022 peak this reference and its predecessor traded above $50,000. Today the black-dial 126500LN sits in the low-to-mid $30,000s on the secondary market, with the white "Panda" dial carrying roughly a $5,000 to $6,000 premium over the black. That is a massive haircut from the peak, and it is still nearly double retail. The Daytona held its premium better than almost anything else Rolex makes, which tells you everything about demand. If you own one and bought at retail, you are sitting on real equity. If you bought at the top in 2022, you are underwater on paper but the reference is recovering.

We buy these every week. If you have a 126500LN or the older 116500LN and want a real number, bring it in.

GMT-Master II "Pepsi" 126710BLRO: the 2026 discontinuation trade

This is the story of the year. The steel GMT-Master II Pepsi, reference 126710BLRO, ran from 2018 to 2026 with a blue-and-red Cerachrom bezel, 40mm Oystersteel case, caliber 3285 with 70 hours of power reserve, and 100 meters of water resistance. It launched on the Jubilee bracelet and added the Oyster option in 2021.

At Watches and Wonders 2026, Rolex pulled it. The steel 126710BLRO and the white-gold 126719BLRO quietly vanished from rolex.com on 14 April 2026 with no press release. The market reacted immediately. For most of its run the steel Pepsi traded at more than double its roughly $11,000 to $12,000 retail, regularly clearing $24,000 to $26,000 pre-owned. On the discontinuation news it surged past $30,000, with unworn examples pushing above $40,000. It gained close to 12% in Q1 2026 alone.

This is a genuine event, not hype. The red-and-blue steel GMT slot no longer exists in the current catalog. Whether the spike holds through 2027 is an open question; discontinuation pops often fade once the initial rush clears. If you own a steel Pepsi, this is the strongest seller's market it will see in years. If you are buying, understand you are paying a scarcity premium that may or may not stick. Either way, call us before you move.

Submariner No-Date 124060: the honest benchmark

The Submariner No-Date reference 124060 is the purest dive watch Rolex makes: 41mm Oystersteel, unidirectional Cerachrom bezel, caliber 3230 with 70 hours of power reserve, 300 meters of water resistance, no date, no cyclops. Retail moved to roughly $10,050 after the January 2026 increase.

At the 2022 peak, steel Submariners briefly traded in the high teens. Today the 124060 sits around $11,500 to $13,000 for excellent and unworn examples, a modest premium over retail. Complete sets with box, papers, and card command the top of that range; watches without full sets trade 5% to 15% lower. This is the reference we point people to when they ask what "normal" looks like now. The premium over retail is small and rational, which is how a working tool watch should trade. It is also one of the easiest Rolexes to buy and sell cleanly, which is why we always have buyers waiting for one.

Datejust 36 and 41: the quiet value story

The Datejust is where the smart money hides. The 36mm reference 126234 and the 41mm 126334 both run the caliber 3235 with roughly 70 hours of power reserve. The 126234 starts near $9,350 at retail. On the secondary market, standard index-dial examples in black, white, silver, or slate trade from about $9,500 to $12,000, meaning many trade at or barely above retail. Wimbledon, mint green, palm-motif, and blue fluted-motif dials sit at the upper end, and diamond-marker or mother-of-pearl variants can reach $14,000 to $17,000 and up.

The Datejust never boomed the way the sport models did, so it never crashed. It is the most stable, least speculative Rolex you can own, and in a recovering market it is the reference least likely to burn you. For a first serious Rolex or a gift that will not lose half its value, this is the pick.

Sky-Dweller 336934: the recovered complication

The steel-and-white-gold Sky-Dweller reference 336934, 42mm, annual calendar with dual time zone and the Ring Command bezel, retails near $17,750. On the secondary market the 336934 trades around $23,500. That premium over retail has held better than most, reflecting genuine demand for the only steel-cased Rolex complication at this price. If you want a grand-touring Rolex that is not another sport-watch clone, this one has quietly earned its keep through the correction.

What this means for you

The 2026 market rewards people who move deliberately. Prices are off the panic lows, the recovery is real but slow, and discontinuation events like the Pepsi are creating short windows where a seller can do genuinely well. Retail keeps climbing every January, which quietly lifts the floor under the secondary market on the references people actually want.

If you are selling, this is a materially better market than 2024. If you are buying, you are no longer paying boom-era insanity on most references. And if you are just trying to understand what your watch is worth today, that number changes week to week, which is exactly why a live offer from a dealer who buys these every week beats a stale chart.

We have stood behind the counter at 19 West 47th Street since 1959. Bring your Rolex in for a real offer, call us to talk through a specific reference, or request a quote and we will tell you what we would write a check for today. No guessing, no chart-quoting. Just the number.

Ultimate Diamond, 19 West 47th Street, New York, NY. Buying and selling Rolex since 1959. Prices in this report reflect summer 2026 secondary-market data and our own transaction desk; secondary-market values move constantly, so contact us for a live figure on your specific reference.